I am SO excited about this. My entire life I thought I was just lazy, even though I always REALLY wanted to do well and be motivated. Got diagnosed almost a month ago and I'm on my forth day of medication.

I spent probably a total of 7 hours doing all of this. I still have some work to do but it's SUCH a huge improvement. I know this kind level of productivity probably won't last forever but I'm so happy with what I've done and I wanted to share with you guys!

Fun fact: I have been using one fork for like, two months because I didn't know where the rest were. I found FIVE while I was cleaning.

I know we have win wednesdays but I want to hear some more of YOUR accomplishments here!

When I first started coping with ADHD, I decided to minimize everything I owned. Throw out half my closet (most was extremely old, ill fitting, etc), simplified where/how I did things around the house to not become overburdened by chores as well.

For other reasons I like to own quality stuff, but I decided to hide all my excess from myself. Over the years my multiple piece flatware set has served me well, as I only ever have 2 forks or spoons available at a time, forcing me to take care of the couple I have (I do this for plates and etc as well).

Boxes don't work here. I literally have to throw it away which is a lot harder. Or wait 4 months to bring it to my parents' house. There's NO storage space at my place. At all. I'm not really a packrat but there are certain things that I see that I haven't used in months where I'm just like "Eh, I'll probably need it eventually"

I am absolutely dreading the day I move. Not including furniture, I could fit everything into one car I think. But I definitely have WAY too much for this apartment. My last one was a bit bigger. I've always wanted to live a life with just the essentials though, so if I can let go of all the things that have been given to me throughout the years, it would be awesome.

Edit: dreading because I hate moving, not necessarily because I have too much stuff.

Moving can be disastrous...many times I've gotten my stuff organized or semi organized, only to be set back to square one after moving.

The one time I did pretty well, I rented a storage, put the absolute essentials in storage (everything but day-to-day clothes and large furniture), and went ham getting rid of everything not in the storage. Oh, yeah: I had friends help with the purging and then setup at the new place.

This sounds like a great idea! I'm a traditional hoarder.. I inherited it from my mother and no one's ever forced me to not do it.. I'm currently 27, engaged for two years, no wedding in site, living in a ridiculously huge house, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 living areas, 4 car garage, a basement.. Well, you can imagine the amount of crap i have..

I just cleared out over ten boxes of crap I've been lugging around for ages (one of the boxes had an address on it from a place I lived in almost ten years ago....) I haven't been diagnosed yet, and getting anything done is an insane uphill battle, but I'm planning on seeing a doc soon. Taking forever to deal with even mundane tasks is driving me crazy.

Those pictures are amazing. I can so resonate with you about the bit saying you're "lazy but always wanted to do well". I'm on my second day of a low dose of Concerta. I accomplished quite a bit too, and found myself to be calm... leading to a realisation that before this I've hardly ever been calm inside. I was always in a fluster.

Wow man this is amazing :) I have the same problem I think, for my whole life so far (I'm 19 now) I have just thought I'm stupidly lazy. I never clean up anything, can never be motivated to do work or be productive in almost any sense. The only reason I've never looked for help is because I always did OK at school despite lack of work and effort but it's really catching up with me at University now :/

Haha thank you!! It's the worst habit. Sometimes I worry that my dresser will tip over because they're all open. One time I closed my cat in a drawer and didn't notice for a couple hours. He was fine though, didn't meow or anything. Just slept :p

Awesome work, I know that feeling - it's so amazing. Make sure to take little steps to maintain it everyday, it can be hard when the initial euphoria of a new drug weens to keep up the same level of organization I find.

I'm happy for you too!! I'm almost ten years on Adderall XR and loving it!!

One word of caution about Concerta (which I started on), and apparently this can happen on Adderall as well. I had never had issues with depression until I took Concerta, never ever. 8 weeks after being on Concerta, I tried cutting my arms as practice for in case things got so bad I needed to end them permanently. If I hadn't read an article in the newspaper about black label warnings, I don't know what would have happened.

Tell a family member or loved one to keep an eye on your mental status for up to 6 months while your body gets used to the drugs. Let your doctor know if you have any changes in your mood at all.

Thank you so much for the advice! I'm sorry you went through that but I'm so glad you're doing well on the adderall! I had severe mood problems on medication in the past and it was the worst experience of my life, so I will definitely tell my doc if I notice any mood changes. Luckily, I'm really self-aware, but I'll tell my close friends to keep a lookout anyway :) Can never be too cautious!

Isn't Ritalin immediate release though? I had very mild drug addiction in the past (aka I realized I was doing too much too often and immediately stopped without a problem and haven't done it since) and I think that's why I didn't get prescribed something that could be abused, like something that takes fairly strong effect immediately. I know I'm really good at stopping something I'm doing too much of, but I still worry about the addiction/"I SHOULD TAKE MORE NOW" factor. Even when I got prescribed Concerta I had temptations to just take like 3 of them instead of one, but I obviously didn't.

The problem is XR or LA is that insurance won't cover them. We have Blue Cross/Blue Shield and they refer to that as "designer drugs" so won't cover it. So I have to double up and take meds twice a day to keep results. Which can be tough because of the arc of coverage.

Did you end with one of those I'm just going to sit on my couch in the room an enjoy the clean moments? They make you feel pretty victorious!

Just a hint for helping it stay clean: Be conveniently lazy. I used to go back and forth between these photos (well, like them) until I figured out that there was no way I could stay organized on such an intense level. Now I have a table and bin at my front door where I can just drop things at; a hamper at the foot of my bed for when I kick my pants off at night; and I stopped trying to make my bed, I now just throw a blanket over it so there isnt dog hair all over my stuff. It's simple small things, but it keeps things neat and not a post-tornado/call-for-relief unclean room.

Bins are totally something I need to invest in though! I actually looked the last time I was at Walmart but couldn't find anything. The last bin I had was taken by my old roommate when I moved and I miss it so much!

I have a hamper at the end of my bed but unfortunately stuff usually ends up on the floor anyway. I'm working on it! :p And screw making beds, that's the one thing that I don't think I will ever do no matter how hard I try. Thanks for the tips! :D

(Warning: Typed on mobile, and haven't taken my meds today yet, so I'm not sure how long or rambling this is, apologies for either/both. There's a Tl;Dr somewhere down there.)

Congrats on the cleaning! It sounds like you realize you need to figure out how to keep it clean instead of yoyo-ing from clean to omgmessy and back, I seriously recommend the eBook "Organized for Life" by Dana Rayburn, I think I paid like $10-15 a few years ago and only ended up doing some of the stuff she recommends, but it's specifically written for "naturally messy" people, who do the clean-messy-clean thing and want to keep it at "decent" - in the book she talks about how she watched the organized people she knew and figured out what they did to keep their homes so clean without stressing over it, and eventually became the professional organizer that she is now. (She has a blog about ADHD, which is how I found out about the book - I don't remember if she has it too or not but she definitely has done good tips and I actually just hauled out the ebook last week after my apartment got omg messy AGAIN and I decided enough was enough, and I'm now in the middle of the slow, incremental, but less exhausting, process of ACTUALLY organizing my apartment, not just throwing stuff in boxes and hoping I can find it later.

Tl;Dr: congrats, for maintaining mostly clean vs cleaning when you can't stand the mess, check out Dana Rayburn's ADHD blog / Organized for Life (eBook fornkessy people cleaning), used to do some of the stuff in it and it helped, now rereading and actually following the rest and and seeing more results.

OH AND MAKE YO BED. :) Its the one thing I've always had clean over the years, and it makes your room look instantly nicer, even it you've just thrown the covers on it without making the bed underneath or tucking it in... Try it for a week. :)

Awesome! Yeah, that's definitely something I need to work on. It's usually a matter of organization more than anything. I'll definitely go check out that book. I love those types of books :p Thank you!

Haha I hate those books normally, I try reading them and never get through because it requires all these organizing tools I don't have (buckets baskets whatever)... This one I actually read the whole thing ( I kept the PDF open on my desktop til I got through it... I actually still have it up from reading over the last week or two, and will likely keep it open for a while until I get the hang of the techniques.)

If you don't mind a stranger on the internet doing so, I can pm you (is that possible on reddit? I think so) in a few days and ask how it's going?

Yes it's possible and yes you may! And yeah, I just like making lists and learning about how to better myself....I just usually don't follow through. Hahaha. Although now I'm looking at allllllll the books on Amazon about ADHD so I can't guarantee that I'm going to buy that specific one. There are too many to choose from! :( Probably wont start it till the weekend though, I have my winter course starting this week.

Yeah I know the "gah too many books" thing. Do this for me though (aside from the bed): think of that one part of your living space that you desperately wish you could keep clean (kitchen counters, desk, the floor, whatever) and then close your eyes and imagine walking in and seeing it all nice and tidy, all clean and shiny and you can USE that part of your space - maybe your desk, you can sit down and the chair is clear of sweaters or random clothes, there's no food or random stuff on your desk itself and you can just pull out your textbook and pen and paper and go right to working on things, and then when you're done you can relax and pull out your laptop and read some stuff on reddit because you already put away your books and paper in your backpack (or wherever they go, but not just piled on your desk!) and it won't get overheated from sitting on papers and old unwashed plates.

Go on and try it, imagine your desk (or whatever it is that bugs you when the room is messy) all clean and shiny and useful and get that firmly in your head. Did you imagine it yet? Okay, good. Now do that right after you make your bed in the mornings, I'm not trying to make you clean anything but the bed.. Just "imagine clean".

..all this is making me want to clean stuff now, so I'ma go do that. Ttyl. :)

That's a good thought. Visualization sounds like a great thing to do. Thanks for the advice :D I'll try the bed-making. But only because you sound so strongly about it so it must make a big difference :)

Good job!!! I'm really happy for you!!! Might I recommend slowing down for just a minute, looking around and really taking a mental snapshot of how good it makes you feel to DO things like this. To accomplish. REALLY let that reward pathway get paved. It should help the next time you are at that moment where you have to decide: do I keep doing whatever it is I'm doing or do I wash the dishes real quick and throw away the trash...

Congrats!!! You did such a great job! Isn't it such a wonderful feeling to have a clean house? I've been cleaning my house too. I just cleaned and reorganized my kitchen and finally have storage and counter space!

Yeah I guess that's pretty common. The first day I didn't really eat because I was cleaning all day and kinda forgot, but since then I've actually felt more hungry than usual for the most part, which doesn't make much sense. I do have a little nausea though :/

So far it's alright. It's been on and off actually which is weird. The first day I hardly ate anything, the second and third day I was so hungry I thought I was going to die (even though I was eating pretty normal meals). But then that third day I got really nauseas after I ate. It's been strange.

I know that feeling. When I first started taking Ritalin I cleaned my room. Not because I felt I should, or because I felt guilty, or even because someone told me to, but because I wanted to. I even did it without listening to a podcast, which was a huge change for me. I just wanted to do it as quickly and as well as possible and then get on with something else. Methylphenidate is the shit!